LASER SHEET GENERATOR (2017) Lasers can be used to create incredible visual effects. In this project, I constructed a new type of laser display that is interactive and plays music. The device rotates two lasers to form two vortex-like sheets of light. I included distance sensors in the device so that the laser sheets and music can be manipulated by moving your hand towards them. |
SPACE-TIME CAMERA (2017) Instead of visualizing the universe as a 2D spatial projection onto a sensor or retina, you can also imagine viewing the universe along the time dimension. With this visualization of the universe, an image has a single space axis and a time axis as opposed to two spatial axes. I created a camera and code for creating space-time images that enable you to visualize multiple moments in time within a single picture. |
INTERACTIVE LED DOME (2016) I created an interactive dome that lights up and plays music when you touch it. Each triangle can play a different note. The dome has also been programmed to play Pong and Simon. |
LASER HARP (2015 - 2016) I constructed an electronic instrument called a laser harp. Block the laser beam, play the note. The project was funded by Spectra, a student-led optics group at Washington University in Saint Louis. |
TOKYO BALLOON (2013 - 2015 ) Tokyo balloon is a wooden sculpture based on a digital image I took on my trip to Tokyo a few years ago. The sculpture consists of 4230 dowel rods all cut according to the intensity of each pixel in the image (bright parts of the image correspond to tall dowel rods and dark spots correspond to short dowels). This project incorporates image processing, carpentry, and computer programming.. The final dimensions are 82.5 x 123 x 60 cm, and a total length of 76847 cm (almost 1/2 mile!) in dowel rods were used. |
MICROSCOPY (2015 - present) I am constructing a two photon microscope in my lab, as well as some more basic microscopes at home and for science outreach events. Here is a collection of images created by these microscopes. |
SOLAR WATER HEATER (2011) During Spring 2011, my friends Jeff and Patrick and I constructed two solar water heaters for the Mascaro Center's Energy Efficient Building Technologies Challenge. One of them was a conventional design, and the 'other was constructed out of recycled plastic water bottles. |
THEREMIN (2010) I constructed an electronic musical instrument known as a theremin during my undergrad at Pitt. The pitch of the instrument is controlled without physical contact by changing the distance of your hand to the instrument's antenna. It was constructed in the electronics lab under the supervision of Dr. Everett Ramer. |